Messiah whom they have pierced, and standing too on that very Mount of Olives. This is proof even to the Jew, acknowledging only the authority of the prophet."-(p. 391.)

(11.) The Rev. W. Dalton, incumbent of St. Paul's, Wolverhampton, follows up the doctrine of Messiah's personal and premillennial advent, and presses the literal acceptation of the Scripture testimony concerning it with great force and perspicuity. He justly remarks on the stumbling-block which the habit of spiritualizing those passages, which speak of Christ's future reign upon earth and Zion's glory, casts in the way of the Jew, and thereby impedes his reception of Christianity. Mr. Dalton observes :

"When we wish him to receive a crucified Saviour, we press into our argument every passage that depicts the suffering and humiliation of Messiah, and demand that God's declarations of the incarnation and vicarious work of Shiloh be taken in their plain and grammatical bearing: but when he dilates on the future glory of Israel, and the personal reign of the triumphant Son of David, then the Christian advocate too often deserts his own principles of literal interpretation, and requires such descriptions to be taken in a figurative and mystical sense. Is it any wonder, that since the days of Origen, the father of the fatal system of making the letter of Scripture clash with the recondite meaning, that the Christian Church has ceased to win over the ancient people of God to the profession of the true faith? And can we be surprised that the claims of that people, and the missionary work amongst them, were wholly neglected, until God in mercy has once more taught many in his Church, not to seek what Scripture can be made to say, but to receive as little children what our Heavenly Father has plainly and faithfully promised?

"It may be here mentioned, as corroborative of these views, that all our missionaries amongst the Jews have been led to the doctrine of the Second Advent, in connexion with the kingdom of righteousness on the earth, either in their preparatory studies, or from their actual controversies with the Jews. I believe that we have not a single instance of a Jewish missionary, who has remained any time the advocate of a mere spiritual millenium; and I am quite confident that the unanimous testimony of our most experienced missionaries is, that to hope to convert any of the Jewish family, by setting before them the prophecies of a suffering Messiah in their literal meaningwhilst all the prophecies which speak of the reign of the Son of David, the restoration of Israel, the renovation of the earth, and the fulness of righte ousness, are explained in an obscure and mystical sense-is, of all others, the most unfounded expectation and fruitless labour.”—(pp. 435—437.)

Of those passages also which describe the saints as "waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and waiting his kingdom," Mr. Dalton remarks ::

"It is a confusion of terms (to say the least), to assert that the Church is waiting for the spiritual kingdom,-how can we wait for what has already taken place? how can we pray for the kingdom to come, which, blessed be God, is already the possession of God's dear children? We wait for what we have not; we hope for what we see not; we have the Saviour's gifts, but we have not the Saviour himself, in the fulness of his personal presence. We have the tokens and pledges of his love, but we do not see the King eye to eye. And I wot that they speak very unguardedly, and in language they would not use to a beloved earthly friend, when they say, 'If we have the

graces of the Spirit, and the peace of God within, we are not so anxious about the personal coming of the Lord.' Oh! my brethren, let no such unmeaning or ungrateful language escape your lips. What are all the gifts of Christ without Christ himself? What the tokens of his love, but as they lead us to the very Fountain-head? What weight of glory could be reserved for the Church, if you abstract from it the very presence of the Lamb of God? What kingdom of perfection, without the throne and sceptre, and countenance of the King of saints?"—(pp. 440, 441.)

We conclude our notice of Mr. Dalton with what is to our mind a satisfactory reply to an objection, which those, who have been warped by the spiritualizing system of interpretation, commonly urge against the views set forth in this volume:

"One difficulty, I know, here occurs to the humble inquirer who is not satisfied with the crude explanations of the popular system. He inquires from us, how all these expected events are consistent with the scriptural account of the day of judgment? He further asks, does not the Bible teach us that all men shall stand before the great Judge at the last day, when the final separation shall take place, and the whole history of this world be concluded by the removal of the righteous to the heavenly glory and the banishment of the wicked to everlasting misery? Now I frankly confess that, in endeavouring to dovetail all the prospects of the future kingdom of Messiah, great difficulties will occur to the mind of the longest student of prophecy. And I further hold, that we should exercise great modesty in trying to give a consecutive order to the events that are yet in the womb of futurity. We have more to do with the great outlines of the prospect than with its minutiæ -more with the vast importance of the promised events than with their allocation in the field of millennial blessedness. Thus we may firmly hold the restoration of the Jews-the rebuilding of the city and temple-the fertility of the renovated earth-the appearance of Messiah to Israel-his personal reign with his risen saints in the New Jerusalem. All these we may clearly discover in the page of inspiration, and yet we may not be able to see their precise order-how one event shall follow a preceding one, or how they will take place. Enough for us to hold the prominent features of the day of glory. Faith can leave the rest in the hands of Jehovah, who knows the end from the beginning, and who will work and none shall let him.

But here we cannot help protesting against a very common, and in our view, a very erroneous mode of contemplating the great and terrible day of the Lord, when he shall come to judge the world. It is commonly assumed that the day of judgment is a mere single act of passing sentence either of acquittal or condemnation. In fact, men seem to speak of it like an ordinary day of twenty-four hours, merely because the word day is used. We readily concede that God could judge the inhabitants of the world in the same short space of time that he made the light; but the question is not about God's power (of which there can be no doubt in the mind of a Christian), but rather of his revealed mind touching the last period of judgment. Where, then, is it stated that that period will be so exceedingly short as men suppose? I know of no such statement. But I do read that the saints shall judge the world,' and therefore I conclude that the righteous are first acquitted before they sit with Christ as assessors upon his throne. I read also that the field is to be joyful and all that therein is: then shall the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord: for he cometh to judge the earth.' And at that very time the command is given, Say among the heathen, the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.' Jeremiah testifies, 'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.' And St. Paul

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says, That the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom.' Now all these passages plainly connect the judgment of the great King with his continuous reign of righteousness. In other words, they aver that in the kingly office there is a constant exercise of judicial power, as well as the possession of Royal state. We are, therefore, prepared not for a solitary act of judgment, but for a period of it; we expect to find the King of kings exercising all the authority of a Judge as long as the millennial kingdom shall last. Is there anything unscriptural in looking on the whole period of the millennium as the day of judgment, commencing with the acquittal of the saints, who shall enjoy the first resurrection, and ending with the condemnation of the raised wicked? I know of no solid objection, and, as far as I can see, this is the view held forth in the Word of God."-(pp. 458–461.)

(12.) The Rev. W. T. Marsh, of St. Mary's, Leamington, closes this series of lectures with a practical application of the whole. Having previously shown that God's care for Israel after the flesh is a pattern and earnest of his jealousy and care for his spiritual people, he next urges upon Gentiles their peculiar duties in regard to the Jew; especially the probability that the Jews may soon leave us, and the importance therefore of seeking to do them good whilst we have yet opportunity; and that the expectation of miraculous interference in their behalf, ought not to prevent us from attempting the conversion of individuals. More especially he presses this duty upon the ministers of the gospel; with his exhortation to whom, we shall conclude our extracts from these lectures :

"Upon ourselves, as the ministers of God's Word, we feel that this subject bears most practically. If it can be proved, as we believe it has been satisfactorily proved in this course of lectures, that the prospects of the Jewish people occupy a prominent place in the volume of prophecy, that the Scriptures from beginning to end teem with promises of their restoration and glory, then are we led to the conviction, that it is incumbent upon us not to omit the subject in teaching our people, but to give it the same prominence which it holds in the estimation of the Spirit of God. If we speak not to the Church of that people, concerning whom prophets and apostles were wont to make mention-if we are careless of the state in which they remain, for whom as a nation as well as individuals, the first Christians felt so high a regard and laboured so zealously, we place our own system of teaching in complete contrast with the ancient system, and we are losing in the modern Church one of the distinguishing features of primitive Christianity: and, as with the clergy, so also with that important part of the Christian community, the laity; if it be the duty of the former it must be also the duty of the latter to assist the Jew, to teach him by precept as well as example what Christianity is, and to endeavour to win him over to an appreciation of principles as pure as they are effective upon the conduct-to teach him, in a word, that Christ died for man, that man might live to Christ.”—(pp. 496, 497.)

In dismissing this volume, it would be invidious, where all is good, to say which we consider the best discourse of the twelve; neither, we are persuaded, would it be agreeable to the respective authors. For there is here no selfish or unholy rivalry; they are not prize essays, elicited by advertisement offering pecuniary reward for the best discourse; neither could the several writers be

otherwise than conscious, that the undertaking, considering their peculiar views, was unpopular-the current of opinion, especially among the religious portion of the public, setting in a contrary direction. Each writer appears desirous of simply giving the counsel of God, according to the mind of the Spirit; and, to effect this, most of them have made a sacrifice of time and expense themselves, to attend in London and deliver their lectures. We are happy to hear that they have already been made instrumental in awakening the attention of numbers to the subject of prophecy in general, and to the Jewish cause in particular. We have not taken up the volume in a critical spirit: had we so done, there are here and there statements, not affecting the general argument, from which we should have expressed our dissent but we have preferred to make such extracts as are calculated to supply our readers with information on this subject; and we finally commend the volume itself to their perusal; satisfied, that though it is not without blemishes, there is a striking harmony of interpretation in the general, and that it contains much which is worthy of their most serious attention.

II. We now turn to the volume of Mr. Bickersteth, entitled "The Restoration of the Jews to their own Land, in connection with their future conversion, and the final blessedness of the Earth." The title sufficiently explains its general character; the topics made most prominent, in subordination to those mentioned above, being the consumption of popery, the exhaustion of the powers of Mahomedanism, and the rise of an infidel democracy. It consists of fourteen discourses, preached at different places and times; and as they are consequently without any systematic arrangement of the subject discussed, so likewise do they necessarily involve a frequent repetition of certain particulars. But this circumstance is of no detriment to the work; for as the subjects which recur are commonly presented to the reader in some different point of view, or are supported by fresh argument and illustration, it only serves in the end to bring them out more fully and more forcibly.

Prefixed to the discourse are more than a hundred pages of prefatory matter, in which are chiefly discussed the true principles of Scripture interpretation, and the objections to a literal restoration of Israel. We consider this by no means the least important portion of this interesting and valuable work. We know it has been urged against some of the statements of the author, in his works on prophecy, that he has treated his subjects too superficially,—taken too much for granted,-given his readers credit for a concurrence in elementary points, which they did not even understand,

and thus left them under the impression that little could be Isaid in behalf of those views which he advocates. Mr. Bickersteth, however, effectually precludes such an objection to his present volume; and we ourselves rejoice to see him more argumentative and logical on this topic. For we have always felt, that among the principal opponents of the views propounded in these two volumes, are many who are not mere worldlings and unbelievers; but that whilst, on the one hand, we have to endure the scoff of the unsanctified, we have, on the other hand, to contend, in the present stage of prophetical inquiry, with some who are spiritually-minded Christians,-numbers of them being ministers of great talent and erudition, who require somewhat more than mere opinions, however coupled with practical applications, if unsustained by proofs. We are therefore glad to perceive that our author is apparently sensible of this demand upon him, and is now putting forth his strength in the way of demonstration.

It must not be supposed, however, from the preceding remarks, that Mr. Bickersteth is one who evinces a disposition to do violence to the opinions of others, and to carry his own point by dogmatical assertions; or that he does not make ample allowance for the prejudices of those who are opposed to him on this question. Оп the contrary, he is always modest, considerate, and ingenuous. Of this we have renewed evidence in the pages before us, a few specimens of which we shall set before the reader ::

"Let me not be misunderstood as if asserting that a belief of the literal restoration of the Jews was an essential article of faith. Many of the most excellent of the earth have conscientiously disbelieved it. To me it appears important to the completeness of Christian faith; but the real life of a Christian is far more immediately connected with a simple dependence on Christ dying for our sins (Gal. ii. 20), and our thence having entire confidence in the love of God to our souls."-(p. lxviii. note.)

So at page xhi, having pointed out the important fact, that both the material and the spiritual Jerusalem are distinguished in the Epistle to the Galatians, the former as "the Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage, with her children," and which our Author contends is to be delivered and restored to more than its original glory, when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled; the latter as "the Jerusalem which is above, and is free,"-he at page xlii states

"It is freely admitted, that the views which so many learned, holy, and excellent men, from age to age, have entertained of a merely spiritual accomplishment, have considerable appearance of foundation, from the unfolding in the New Testament of the spiritual glories of this dispensation, under Jewish titles. (See the Epistles to the Galatians and the Hebrews, and the Book of Revelation.) This dispensation, as the ministration of the Spirit, much exceeds in glory the former ministration. But not one of these spiritual glories need be lost sight of, nor shall one fail, nor need one be